


all of these thousand miles (to get you back)

by boywholived



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Tony Stark, Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers Friendship, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Gay Steve Rogers, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Light Angst, M/M, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark Friendship, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark Friendship, Protective Pepper Potts, Red White and Royal Blue AU, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, but not, its like, not really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:34:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24097405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boywholived/pseuds/boywholived
Summary: “I-” Now he has his full attention, Steve has turned his body completely to look Tony directly in the eyes. “I’m the one who’s a dick to you? That’s not true.”“It is, actually, and if you weren’t such an asshole you would see that.”“If anything you’re the asshole. I have been nothing but completely civil to you every time I see you and yet, here you are. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re just a tad bit obsessed with me.”-Or: A story about two boys on opposite sides who are only trying to find love together.(The Red White and Royal Blue AU that no one asked for but you're getting anway.)
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 35
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wordsxstars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordsxstars/gifts), [Peterbenjxmin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peterbenjxmin/gifts).



Tony Stark has never hated anyone as much as he hates Prince Steve. With his better than everyone attitude and his boring personality, Tony really doesn’t understand why the press loves him so much. (Other than the fact that he’s the Prince of England obviously.) And sure, the guy might have a nice face but it's the personality that counts, isn’t it? Not looks. 

But anyway. 

Tony takes another sip from the champagne flute he picked up off a tray a few minutes ago. His eyes scan the crowd, searching for a familiar face. Most people would kill for the chance to be at a royal wedding, but all Tony wants is to go home. It must show on his face because out of nowhere he feels a firm hand gripping his forearm. 

“Start smiling, Tony, or I swear to fucking god,” A voice hisses in his ear. 

“Hey, dad enjoying the party?” He says with a pained smile. 

“Go mingle and talk to people, you look insane over here all alone.”

“See that’s kinda the point you see, I know your tiny brain couldn’t even imagine this but-” 

He’s cut off as nails dig into his arm. 

“Fine,” He snaps. He shakes his hand off of him and walks away. 

He doesn’t really have anywhere to go, so he just goes and sits at someone’s table in hopes that someone will recognize him and initiate a conversation so he doesn’t have to. 

“You look so depressed right now,” Someone says next to him. “I’m surprised the cameras haven’t followed you here already.” 

He looks over and grins, the person sitting next to him is one of his favorite people on this planet. Natasha Romanoff, in all her glory. 

“I can picture the headlines now,” He says, spreading his hands out wide. “First Son of the United States, depressed? We might never know.” 

She laughs, throwing her head back. Her red hair shines in the sun and Tony is filled with a warm happy feeling, happy as always to be friends with this girl in front of him. 

“Hey, I saw Dad talking to you over there, you okay?” His sister, Pepper asks as she comes to sit beside Nat.

Nat’s smile dims and her eyebrows furrow. She doesn’t say anything, clearly waiting for Tony to explain. 

“It was nothing, just being his usual charming self,” He says flashing a smile. 

They clearly don’t buy it, the two looking scarily similar as they give him unimpressed looks. They both cross their arms and lean back in their chairs. Damn. Maybe it’s actually Pepper and Nat that are related and not me and Pepper, Tony thinks. That would explain a lot. 

“I swear, he didn’t do anything guys,” Tony says. “He wouldn’t, not here.” 

Nat nods and is about to say something before she stops, snapping her mouth shut as her eyes find something behind Tony. He can’t read the expression in her eyes and his blood runs cold. Is it Howard?

His question is quickly answered as a smooth voice cuts through the silence. 

“May I have this dance?” 

That’s not Howard.

Tony whirls around just in time to see Steve Rogers leading his sister away to the dance floor. He gasps, a bit louder than normal probably because Nat kicks his foot. Pepper turns and gives him an apologetic look before she’s swept away by the crowd of journalists, all eager for a look at who the prince is dancing with. 

He watches carefully as Steve leads her away from the press, stopping them somewhere on the edges near the water. He looks bored as if he’d rather be doing anything other than dancing with Pepper. Tony feels anger flare up inside him, and he gets a sudden fantasy of running up there and pushing Steve into the water. Pepper Carbonell-Diaz is a wonderful, beautiful young woman, and Tony will fight anyone who disagrees.

He looks at the way Steve’s hands curve around her waist, hovering there as to not offend anyone. Tony sees it as him being afraid to touch Pepper, which makes him even angrier. 

He stands up, ready to go over there and give Steve a piece of his mind when Nat’s hand reaches out and grabs his wrist. 

Her eyes flash, she knows exactly what he was planning on doing. “Don’t,” She says with clenched teeth. “Don’t cause a scene, not here, not now. It’s not worth it and there is way too much at risk.” 

He holds her gaze for a second, and she raises her brow as if asking Tony to stop her. He doesn’t of course, sitting back down in his chair with a heavy sigh. 

How satisfying would it be to go over there and just scream at Steve? To let out all the anger he’s been holding in ever since they met back in 2016, at the Olympics. God, how he wishes that was possible.

The idea of shouting in his stupid pretty face, of watching as his face finally changes from its bored expression to something interesting, something angry. To watch a fire light up in Steve’s eyes and being the one who causes it? It sounds like a dream come true to him. 

That can't happen, and it won't ever happen. Because Steve is the prince and Tony is pretty much the face of the family so just one slight slip up from him would cause the entire election to fall sideways and everything would be ruined. 

Besides, Zahra would probably kill him anyway. (Zahra is the deputy chief of staff for his mom, but she basically just makes sure Tony doesn’t get himself killed and organizes PR while bossing everyone around at the same time.)

"That was weird as fuck," Pepper comes back with a strange look on her face. "He was actually very sweet, you know, I don't know why you insist on hating him."

She directs this last bit towards Tony, who simply huffs and downs more wine that he found on the table. 

He is not going to talk to Steve Rogers.

-

"I'm going to talk to Steve," Tony announces as he stands from his chair and brushes off invisible dirt from his clothes. 

"Tony I really don't think-"

"Hush Pepper, I know what I'm doing."

And with that, he's off. 

He knows exactly where Steve is, seeing as he's been watching him for the past hour. Watching him do nothing but nod at anyone who talks to him and whisper to his handler about who knows what. That pompous asshole. 

"Hey," Tony says when he finally reaches Steve. 

He's standing right by the 75,000 dollar cake which Tony makes a mental note to steer clear of because knocking over that cake would result in an international crisis.

Steve looks like the definition of perfection, with his crisp blue eyes and hair that hangs just over his forehead. With the wrinkle-free suit that fits him perfectly, Tony starts to wonder how someone so arrogant and annoying can look so good. 

"Hey, hey Steve," Tony says again, a bit louder so that maybe the other guy will actually look over now. 

“Yes?” Steve says, turning his head ever so slightly to face him. 

“How does it feel,” Tony laughs. “How does it feel to think you’re better than everyone else?”

“I’m sorry, I’m not sure I’m not following,” Steve is now looking around, probably trying to find an agent or something to take him away. “Do you need anything?”

“Yeah I do, actually,” Tony draws himself up to his full height which really isn’t that much compared to His Royal Highness here but whatever. “I need you to stop acting like a complete dick every time we see each other. It’s getting tiring.”

“I-” Now he has his full attention, Steve has turned his body completely to look Tony directly in the eyes. “I’m the one who’s a dick to you? That’s not true.”

“It is, actually, and if you weren’t such an asshole you would see that.”

“If anything you’re the asshole. I have been nothing but completely civil to you every time I see you and yet, here you are. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re just a tad bit obsessed with me.”

And with that, Steve smirks ever so slightly and starts walking away. Tony opens and closes his mouth, flustered and confused. But no matter what, there is no way he is letting that dick of a prince get the last word. 

He reaches out and snatches his wrist, his hand catching on to the end of the sleeve. 

“Wait.” 

Steve doesn’t say anything, just swiftly turns and shoves Tony away. 

Which is understandable, completely reasonable considering the fact that Tony was holding onto his wrist. 

Except now, it's really not that good because for some reason he’s lost his balance and is now falling back right into the cake. Everything feels like it's happening in slow motion, and he sees Steve standing there with a politely confused expression on his face. This sets Tony off more than anything. He notices his hand is still attached to the prince’s wrist, so with a quick tug he follows him and they fall right into the wedding cake.

He doesn’t see anything but frosting and white in front of his eyes, and he’s almost scared to look over next to him. Camera flashes go off and Tony shuts his eyes, leans his head back, and tries to breathe. He’s dimly aware of the fact that Steve’s sleeve is still clutched in his hand. This thought is quickly erased by the next one, one much scarier than dozens of cameras and a royal wedding. 

Zahra is going to murder him. 

-

“75,000 dollars.” 

Tony looks over at his mom’s favorite Secret Service agent Amy, hoping for some help. She looks at him and shrugs, giving him a small smile. He sighs and turns his attention back to the terrifying sight in front of him. Zahra Bankston when she’s angry is really in his top 10 list of most terrifying things to ever happen to him. 

“That cake cost 75,000 dollars and you managed to destroy the entire thing, for what?” This is a rhetorical question, as Tony soon figures out. “You’re a smart guy, you have to know how not good this is for your family.”

“It’s not like I meant to do it,” Tony protests. “And he pushed me, not the other way around.”

“Tony, I really don’t give a fuck about how it happened, you realize that right?”

He nods, not trusting himself to do anything else. 

“Good. So now what we’re going to do is called damage control,” She says with a too-sweet smile. “We’re sending you to England on Saturday, and you will play nice with Steve or I will not hesitate to chop your dick off and feed it to my dog.”

“You have a dog?”

Zahra glares at him, her eyes cutting across his face and he shuts up again. 

“I have them!” Pepper yells as she runs through the door. “Oh hi Zahra, hi mom!”

“Hey sweetie,” his mother says. “What do you have there?” 

“The magazines, I wanted to see what people were saying.” 

Maria Stark nods, stretching her hand out to ask for the headlines. Pepper slides them over with an apologetic look at Tony. 

Good luck, She mouths, and then she’s off. 

The three of them sit in silence for a bit, Tony playing with his shirt while his mother reads the headline. Zahra does nothing but stares at Tony, and oh god she really is pissed. He decides that burning a hole into the table is his best option right now. He doesn’t look up until a manicured hand passes him a magazine. He looks up to see his mom watching him. 

Tony grabs the magazine and winces at the cover. It's a picture of him and Steve sitting in the leftovers of the ruined cake. He is covered in icing and Steve has a small cut across his cheekbone. Tony’s hand is still holding onto Steve and they both have what looks like an ‘I want to die a slow and painful death expression on their faces.

The headline reads: 

BATTLE ROYAL: Prince Steve and First Son of the United States (FSOTUS) Come to Blows at Royal Wedding 

“Okay, that is not what happened,” Tony argues. “I was simply having a nice conversation with him and-”

“Sweetheart do I really have to spell out how much the press does not give a fuck about how this started?” Maria says. “I am your mother, I can understand that this is not your fault but since I am also the president, the option of having the CIA fake your death and you go live in hiding sounds pretty nice to me too.”

Tony says nothing. He clenches his fists under the table, angry at himself for being so reckless. This isn’t the first time he’s fucked up in front of the press, and it isn’t going to be the last time either. It’s just the first time it's ever been this bad. He knows this isn’t good, and he’s scared for what is going to happen to his mom and the campaign if this gets any worse. 

“So I leave Friday?” He says finally. 

“Yeah,” Maria says, a little gentler this time. “I’m sure it won’t be that bad.” 

Tony doesn’t say anything, just gives her a small smile and nods. He walks out, only to find something even worse than international incidents and angry Zahra. He finds his Dad. 

“D-dad,” He stutters, mentally kicking himself for sounding so weak. “I thought you were supposed to go back to the cabin this week?”

“I was until your dumbass decided to ruin everything we’ve worked for,” Howard growls. 

“You did nothing,” Tony snaps. “That was all me, that was Pepper, Mom, even Nat. All you did was sit around and get drunk-”

He’s interrupted with the feeling of Howard's fist connecting with his face. He stumbles back, blinking away tears that spring to his eyes. His vision blurs and all he can think is get out, leave, find Nat, do something, please. 

But he does nothing. He stands up straight and stares back at Howard, daring him to hit him again. But he doesn’t. Howard steps in real close and grabs the front of Tony’s shirt. He yanks on it, bringing them nose to nose. Tony squeezes his eyes shut and braces himself for what’s coming. He can smell Howard’s breath, it stinks of booze and it makes him want to vomit. 

“You better watch yourself boy,” Howard whispers before letting him go with a snap. 

Tony stands there, staring after him. He takes a few deep breaths. His heart is beating way too fast, he needs to just calm down. All he wants is for Howard to leave, and he wants to tell his family what happens every time Howard comes close. But he can’t. None of them know just exactly what Howard does, but they aren't dumb. They assume things that are mostly right, but Tony has never given anyone the full story. 

And he doesn't plan to. 

He can handle Howard. Besides he doesn’t hit him as much anymore. It's mostly just threats hissed into his ear at public events, and the occasional punch when he’s super angry. When he gets drunk, Tony tends to lock himself in his room, having Pepper bring him dinner. It's not as if Tony is completely alone, he has his mom (maybe not so much anymore), he has Pepper, Nat, and even Jarvis. 

Jarvis is an Independent Senator, who is close with his dad. Jarvis is one of the very few openly gay politicians out there, which is one of the reasons Tony admires him so much. He befriended Jarvis when he helped him with his campaign for Senate. Jarvis is close with Howard, Howard goes as far as to consider Jarvis his protege. They aren’t as close as they were, as Jarvis prefers to stay away from the new person Howard has turned into and Tony can’t exactly blame him. 

This new version of Howard Stark is cruel, calculating, cold, and never does anything for anyone unless he benefits from it as well. Tony is sorry that he never got to meet the old Howard, the one who cracked jokes, the one who cared. He stopped being that the day Tony came into his life, as Tony is reminded of every time he looks into Howard’s eyes. 

-

2 very long days later, Tony is on a plane headed straight for England, or as he likes to think, straight to the Gates of Hell. 

“Could you stop pacing?” Zahra snaps from her seat. “It’s very annoying.” 

He’s never really gotten used to the whole private airplane thing. He loves it, yeah and there are no complaints but it's weird. 

Tony goes and sits down, but he’s restless. He doesn’t know what’s going to be waiting for him in England and to be honest, he isn’t sure if he’s ready to find out. 

To calm himself down, he pulls out one of the trashy magazines Pepper packed for him. She has a thing for reading those, trying to find the best articles on their family. They even had a bet going for a while, on how long it would take for the press to start the dating rumors about him and Nat again. She bet two months, he bet two weeks. Lucky for him, they had a gala to attend that very week. Tony disappeared with Nat back to his hotel room, and the press didn’t shut up about it for about a week. Sure, they were actually just playing bad video games and occasionally making obscene noises at the wall but the press didn’t need to know that. 

Opening up these magazines again is sort of nostalgic for him. Tony finds himself thinking of the times before his mom became President and before he knew who Steve was. Pepper had just turned 15, and to treat herself she went and bought a bright, flashy gossip magazine. She treated that thing like the bible. She never let anyone touch it, and carried it everywhere. One day, Tony, being the curious young boy of 12 he was, wanted to see just what was so interesting about this magazine. 

He opens it to find none other than Prince Steve, smiling back at him. Of course, Tony knew who he was, he did watch the news and heard his mom talk. But he never really paid much attention. But there was something about this picture, the boy’s shiny happy smile, his big blue eyes, even his messy hair that drew Tony in. He remembers coming back to look at this photo every so often, running his fingers over his hair, as if he could somehow feel the texture through the paper. 

When their family started moving up the ranks, and more people started to find out who he was, Tony found himself wondering what it would be like to know Prince Steve. To meet the boy behind the picture. 

But then he actually did meet him, and he was nothing like Tony imagined. He was cool and distant, barely even looking at him. Those cold words that Steve first said to him all those years ago had stuck with him. It made him realize how different Steve actually was. The real Steve is gorgeous, mind-numbingly boring, and closed off from the rest of the world. The man the tabloids keep comparing him to, the man who thinks he is better than Tony is the real Steve, and Tony hates him with all he has. 

And now, because of one incident, he’s being forced to spend a weekend with this man. Tony leans his head back and groans. He can’t wait for this to be over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come yell at me<3  
> tumblr: murphyswidow  
> instagram: murphyswidow


	2. Chapter 2

Once the plane lands, the first thing that happens is they meet Shaan. Shaan Srivasta is a tall Indian man, holding a cup of steaming hot coffee in one hand and a packet of papers in the other. Shaan is Steve’s handler, and he’s honestly quite funny. This comes as a surprise to Tony, he expected everyone affiliated with Steve to be just as boring and as plain as he is. 

Shaan hands him a multitude of nondisclosure agreements, each one just as thick as the other. Tony gives Shaan a raised eyebrow, but he does nothing except hand Tony a pen and smile. 

“I assume you’ve already read the document you were given on the prince?”

Tony gives him a sweet smile. “I did my homework, don’t worry. Now I know all about Steve’s favorite things, for instance, his favorite book. Great Expectations. Name of his pet. A beagle named David-”

“Alright, Tony that’s enough,” Amy interrupts, shooting Shaan an apologetic look. “He’s very… enthusiastic about this visit.”

“Oh, yes,” Tony says sarcastically. “I’m just so excited to spend my weekend being paraded around charity events like a fucking trophy, pretending to be someone I’m not.” 

Shaan simply nods, before turning back to Amy. 

“We have a rover set up for you and your team, but I’m afraid Tony will be coming with me,” He says. “I will show him his room and then we have some things to attend to before he is allowed to retire for the night.”

Amy looks to Zahra, who nods. 

“I’m only here to make sure Tony doesn’t fuck anything else up, I’ll be taking the plane back tonight,” Zahra explains. 

“Then I guess I’ll see you later Tony,” Amy smiles at him before getting into the rover and handing their bags to an attendant. 

He stares after her, wishing he could just hop into a rover and drive away, drive anywhere. But preferably off a cliff. It's not the interviews and charity events that are bothering him. He’s used to those, hell sometimes they’re even fun. But the company, the person who he’s supposed to be doing all of this with is the one that’s bothering him. The guy’s favorite food is mutton pie for fuck's sake. Steve is just so unbelievably shallow, and Tony is expected to be his best friend. A nightmare. 

He’s so caught up in his thoughts he forgets where he is and what he’s supposed to be doing. He sees Shaan waiting patiently by a car, he has a tablet out and he looks so incredibly cool that Tony has to remind himself to not trip over his feet as he walks over. Shaan looks up when Tony arrives and says nothing, just tucks the tablet back inside his jacket, and opens the door for him. 

(Very smoothly, Tony might add.) 

Shaan slides into the front seat and starts driving, not giving Tony any hints as to where they’re actually going. 

“So are you planning on kidnapping me or do we have a destination in mind?” 

Shaan’s eyes flick to the rearview mirror, his eyes revealing nothing. He does give Tony a half-smile, then turns his eyes back to the road. 

Okay. So Shaan isn’t going to tell him anything, that’s nice. He’s just supposed to use his genius mind to figure this out. He can do that. Tony stares out the window and finds nothing but buildings and the occasional tree. He does see some signs though, and when he looks closer he realizes that they’re all for some sort of sporting event. He notices loads of paparazzi too. What was Steve’s favorite sport? Something to do with horses, wasn’t it? 

He shuts his eyes, trying to remember what he had read. Truth is, he only read the full thing through once. Nat and Pepper had come into his room while he was trying to memorize it and turned the entire thing into a drinking game. Which wasn’t exactly surprising. Well, he didn’t have to remember the sport but he remembered the horses part. 

“Are we going to the stables?” 

Shaan laughs, a quick short sound that is entirely unexpected but not unwelcome. “I was wondering when you were going to figure it out.” 

“So we are?”

“Yes, we’re going to pick up the prince from the stables and chauffeur him back to Kensington Palace. There, the two of you will get some rest in time for your interviews tomorrow. Sunday, you’ll be spending the afternoon at a hospital, children with cancer type thing. After that, it's back to America for you.” 

“Sounds good,” Tony says. He leaves out the fact that interviews with Steve make him want to throw up all over this nice car, and opts to stay silent instead.

After about 20 minutes of Tony sitting in silence and thinking about how he has to spend 2 days with a pompous asshole, they pull up to the royal stables. Shaan warned him about the photographers, so Tony was prepared with a camera-ready smile when they got out of the car.

Shaan, bless him, doesn’t let any of the reporters get to him. He simply ushers Tony along, throwing out vague excuses about previous appointments and a busy schedule. 

They reach the stables just in time to see Steve hand his horse off to someone waiting. He doesn’t notice them at first, but his eyes do notice the paparazzi. It doesn’t take him long to put two and two together and he finds Shaan and Tony quickly after that. He strides over with a sickening smile on his face and greets Tony warmly. 

“Hey,” Steve says. “I thought we were meeting back at the palace? Do I get an early Christmas present?”

Tony opens his mouth, about to reply scathingly, but receives a swift jab to his side. 

“Don’t say a word,” Shaan hisses, his mouth barely moving. 

Tony nods, the teensiest bit scared now because Shaan is a bit frightening. 

He sort of blanks out after that, the next thing he knows he’s sitting next to Steve in the backseat of the car. He’s torn, refusing to be the first to break the silence but also doesn’t want Steve to have the upper hand over him. Shaan keeps flicking his eyes back to the pair in the back as if expecting them to start a screaming match any second. Tony sort of wishes they would, anything would be better than this excruciating silence. 

“So…” Tony trails off, realizing he has no idea what to say. It's too late now though, Steve is looking over at him with an expectant look on his face, those fucking blue eyes staring directly into his soul. “Horses.” He finishes lamely, wincing at how weird it sounds. 

Steve nods solemnly. “Horses.”

“Oh for fuck's sake,” Shaan sighs before pulling over out of nowhere and stopping the car. “We are not going any further until you two stop acting like five-year-olds and learn how to have a proper conversation.”

“Hey,” Tony protests. “I was starting a conversation!”

“The word horses does not equal to a great conversation starter Mr. Stark, I regret to inform you that you need to be a bit more creative than that.”

Steve snorts next to him and Tony whips his head around with an incredulous look on his face. 

“Emotion!” He shouts accusingly, pointing a finger at Steve’s face which has morphed back into its usual mask. 

“I am capable of displays of emotion,” Steve says calmly, moving Tony’s hand out of his face. He’s speaking slowly as if he’s talking to a child. “Unfortunately, the only emotions you will ever be seeing from me are expressions of disgust and annoyance. Those are, after all, the only feelings anyone should get when they spend time with you.” 

Tony just gapes.

“Excuse you-” He retorts but is quickly interrupted by Shaan. 

“Enough!” He scolds. “We are not moving until the two of you learn to have a proper conversation without biting each other’s heads off.”

“That’s going to take a while,” Steve mutters.

“I am prepared to wait as long as possible sir,” He says before turning and walking away, keys in hand. 

Tony watches him go in silence, then turns to Steve. 

“So do you know how to hotwire a car?”

“Oh my fucking christ,” Steve groans, leaning his head back against the seat. “I can’t believe this.” 

“So you don’t.”

“No, of course, I don’t, now shut up.”

“Listen though, I know how to hotwire a car.”

Steve sits up with sudden energy. “We are not hotwiring this car.”

“Fine,” Tony pouts. “Buzzkill.” 

They lapse back into an uncomfortable silence, but this time there’s no Shaan watching them from the front seat. Tony is painfully aware of the fact that Shaan is staring at them from a safe distance but elects to ignore that for the time being. Right now he needs to focus on having a conversation with the arrogant toenail beside him. 

“Did you just call me a toenail?” Steve asks, surprisingly civil.

“Well, I didn’t mean to say it out loud.”

Steve absorbs the information but still doesn’t say anything. Tony comes to the frightening realization that those few moments of insults were the most emotion he is ever going to get out of him. He isn’t exactly sure what to do with this information either, so he decides it's a problem for future him to deal with as well. 

Tony Stark, ever the procrastinator. 

After another five minutes of mind-numbing silence, Tony is starting to get restless. 

“Listen, we need to at least try and make friends with each other.” 

Steve looks at him. “I thought I was your worst enemy, how could you possibly make friends with an arrogant toenail like me?” 

“Well maybe not friends then,” He huffs. “But at least we could be civil.”

“I’m always civil towards you, you’re the one who chooses to hate me.”

“Because you’re an arrogant asshole who thinks the world revolves around him!” Tony says a bit too loudly. 

Steve says nothing. 

“Fine,” Tony says. “I’ll be civil towards you, and I’ll act like your best friend in front of the cameras, how’s that sound?” 

“Sounds fine to me.”

Tony bites back the retort he was about to respond with, choosing instead to go for “Have you always liked horses?”

Steve seems to take the hint that they should start having a civil conversation so they can actually leave. He gives him a good enough response, and they continue like that until they see Shaan coming back to the car. 

“Have we accomplished basic human interaction?” He says cheerfully, enjoying this way more than he should in Tony’s opinion. 

“Yes, I believe we have,” Steve says. “Can we go home now?”

“We most certainly can.”

-

Dinner at the palace was a quiet affair, Tony wasn’t exactly sure how to act around Prince Phillip and his wife, so he ate as fast as possible before quickly excusing himself from the table. 

He immediately calls Nat, assuming Pepper is there with her as well, and he assumes correctly. 

“So, how bad is it?” Nat’s voice says excitedly over the phone.

“It's horrible,” Tony laughs, his mood already a bit better after hearing his best friend’s voice. 

“Oh, it can’t be that bad,” Pepper says. “Hold on, I’m putting you on facetime so we can see the room.”

“It is bad Pepper, I’m telling you.”

She ignores him, demanding a room tour instead. 

“So here we have a guest bedroom in a royal palace,” Tony announces to his phone. “As you can see, the bed is outrageously large for no reason and a beautiful color pattern of grey, grey and you guessed it! Grey.”

“Tony,” Pepper tries scolding him but ends up laughing instead. 

Nat shoves her out of the way, asking to see the closet and that's how he ends up giving them an in-depth tour of the whole room for 40 minutes. 

In all honesty, the room isn’t that bad. It’s just a bit bland for Tony’s taste. Everything about this place screams stereotypical interior designers with a taste for dull, monochrome colors and bullshit like that. The dresser is quite literally just grey with what looks like crystal handles. The closet, much to Natasha’s disappointment isn’t a walk in with amazing lighting. It’s simply a normal closet with nothing but a few hangers. There is a nightstand by the bed, which Tony hasn’t touched, along with a bookshelf filled with ancient books that no one actually reads. There is a mirror right above the dresser, and it appears to be framed in some sort of faded black wood. 

After the tour, ignoring Nat and Pepper’s pleas to give him a tour of the rest of the house, he takes them off facetime and walks down to the kitchen to find some food. Before he arrived, he was asked to send in a list of some of his favorite foods so they could stock the fridge. He couldn’t think of anything except for stracciatella, his favorite flavor of gelato. 

He keeps up a running commentary of the rest of the house as he tries to find his way to the kitchen, whispering so that the other members of the family can’t hear him, wherever they are. Finally, he makes it to the kitchen and is glad to find no one else is there. He walks over to the freezer and pulls out the gelato, before realizing he has no idea where the spoons or the bowls are. The obvious solution to this problem is to start opening every single drawer he can find, as quiet as possible until he finds the spoons. 

Until he hears footsteps. 

Tony whispers a hurried goodbye to his friends before deciding to hide behind the counter with the gelato and pray whoever just walked in won’t notice him. 

No such luck. 

“Tony?” 

He winces. That’s not just any voice, that’s Steve. Fuck. 

He stands up slowly, looking like a deer in headlights as he stands there awkwardly, gelato in his hands and 2 open drawers next to him. 

He’s caught off guard for a second by Steve’s appearance. He’s in a loose fitted shirt and pajama bottoms that stop just before his bare feet and flare out. He has his phone in his hands and is listening to something, white headphones in his ears. His normally immaculate blond hair is all messed up, it looks like he tried to sleep for a bit before giving up and coming down here. 

Tony realizes Steve is still staring at him and realizes he should probably say something. 

“I couldn’t find a spoon, what’s your excuse?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” He answers as he comes around the counter to open a drawer Tony hasn’t touched yet. “Also this is my home, so my excuse is better.” 

He tosses Tony a spoon and walks out, leaving Tony to his thoughts which is really not a good idea. He stands there for a bit, trying to figure out what had just happened during those few seconds of interaction. His mind keeps returning to the image of Steve standing there in his pajamas, looking so vulnerable that Tony can barely believe it actually happened. 

Pushing all thoughts of Steve out of his head, he checks the time on the microwave clock and realizes it's 12 am. He heads back to his room, crawls under the covers of his giant bed, and waits for sleep to come. Instead, his thoughts are plagued with images of blond hair, white headphones, and a grey t-shirt.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter sort of got away from me, I honestly don't even know how it happened but it's now 7k so! If y'all like the longer chapters then this is good for you: ,)  
> Also, just a heads up that everything political in this fic, all the political talk and shit is either copied from the book or just me bullshitting to sound smart. I really don't know anything about politics but I hope I did okay.  
> Anyways that's all from me, enjoy!

The next day passed by quickly enough, the interviews starting at 9 and going on nonstop till 6 pm. Steve was as charming as ever, flashing his plastic smile all over the place and laughing at everything. Tony kept up just fine, he was surprisingly good at pretending to be the prince’s best friend. At breakfast before their first interview, Amy and Shaan drilled them on inside jokes that had been pre-planned specifically for them. 

As soon as the day was over, Tony sped through dinner and ran back to his room. He refused to leave his room that night, scared that he would see Steve again and do something incredibly stupid. 

Now, they were at a hospital, visiting the children with cancer ward. Tony’s sitting next to a 10-year-old kid with brown hair who reminds him of himself. He’s just fallen asleep holding his hand and he looks surprisingly peaceful. His name is Peter and he’s been telling him all about what he plans to do when he gets better. Tony’s heart aches when he hears him say that. 

He hasn’t moved for about an hour, so he gets up to stretch his legs when he catches a glimpse of Steve in the bed next to him. He seems to be having a very deep conversation, but Tony is curious. He doesn’t know what comes over him as he pulls the curtain open just the slightest bit to see what’s going on, but he does it anyway. 

What he sees shocks him more than anything else. 

Steve is kneeling by the little girl’s bed, holding her hand just like what Tony was doing a few minutes ago. He’s talking to her about something, but he can’t figure out what it is. Tony steps a bit closer, making sure to stay hidden in the cover of the curtains. 

“You like Star Wars huh?” Steve whispers. 

“Yeah,” The girl smiles. “Leia is my favorite, I like that she’s a princess but also is very strong.”

“Aw really?” Steve smiles. “Can I tell you a secret?”

She giggles. “Sure.”

“Leia is my favorite too.”

She gasps as if he’s just told her the most mind-blowing thing in the world and Tony melts just a little bit. So he might have a weak spot for attractive people around kids. Sue him. (Actually don’t do that, he might be rich but it would not go well with the press.)

“We’re twins!”  
Steve opens his mouth to respond but before he can two shots that sound like gunfire ring out from somewhere in the hall. Surprised, Tony stumbles forward and falls directly into the stool on the other side of the little girl’s bed. This isn’t good. He looks up and finds Steve glaring at him with an expression he can’t quite read on his face. 

“I’ll ask questions later, just follow me,” Steve says, grabbing his hand and tugging him away.

“I don’t take orders from you,” Tony says, shooting daggers at the back of Steve’s head. 

“Tony I really don’t give a fuck about who you take orders from now please shut up so we can find someplace safe.”

“Sir!” Someone who sounds like Shaan yells from a storage room. “Get in here, it’s safe!” 

Steve tugs Tony in that direction and once they reach the room he quite literally throws Tony to the back. Steve quickly follows and places himself directly on the floor next to him. 

“What’s going on?” Tony asks, mostly to ignore the fact that he is now completely pressed up next to the king of England. 

“They’re not sure,” Steve explains, shifting a bit so they’re not as close. A lost cause, considering they’re stuck in between a container and a stepladder. “That’s why we’re in here so they can assess the situation and figure out how to proceed.” 

He sounds as if he’s reciting from a textbook. 

“This happens often?”

“Pretty much every time we go out.”

Tony shoves down the tiny bit of him that is worried about Steve and says: “This is your fault.” 

Steve sighs. “Of course it is. Care to explain why?”

“Well this never happens when I go out to places, but suddenly I’m with you for a day and a half and we’re stuck in a storage area with a possible shooter in the area.” 

“That’s actually a fair point.”

“I know.” 

“It’s probably nothing Tony, just stop worrying for a second and think about something else.”

He doesn’t really know what else to think about until it hits him.

“I didn’t know you were a Star Wars fan.”

“I take that back,” Steve says. “Continue thinking about the shooter and shut up.” 

Tony elbows him, which isn’t an easy thing to do considering his elbow is underneath him. It hits Steve right in the ribs and he yelps. Tony laughs, which results in Steve kicking him in the shin. He glares at him and decides that the respectable adult thing to do would be to headbutt Steve’s shoulder. He falls back and knocks into the stepladder, causing it to fall over. 

“Look what you did Steve,” Tony shakes his head in mock disappointment. “I can’t believe you.” 

“Oh fuck off,” Steve laughs. “The ladder had it coming, and so did you.” 

Tony is silenced for a moment at the sound of Steve’s laugh. Sure, he’s heard the sound before but it's never sounded so genuine. It was mostly just Steve ‘laughing’ during interviews. He quickly bounces back though and bumps Steve's shoulder with his. 

“Seriously though, are you really a Star Wars fan?” 

“Yeah,” Steve says quietly. “My dad introduced them to me when I was younger, I never really grew out of it I guess.” 

Tony grows quiet again, not exactly sure what to do with the mention of Steve’s dad. He knows that the guy died a few years ago and that he starred in a few movies but that’s it. 

“My favorite is Anakin,” Tony says finally. He can do more of the emotional stuff if they ever become proper friends. 

“He’s a good one too,” Steve nods. “What’s your favorite movie?”

“Revenge of the Sith,” Tony smiles. “You?”

“Return of the Jedi,” Steve says sheepishly. “I’m a sucker for happy endings.” 

Tony laughs. “Why am I not surprised?” 

“Shut up,” Steve says without any real emotion behind it. 

It's quiet for a bit, but it’s a good type of quiet. Not uncomfortable or anything just ran out of conversation topics and for once they don’t feel the need to fill up the empty space. All Tony can hear is the sound of people yelling at each other and Steve’s breathing. He wonders what it would be like if Steve and he actually became friends. His brain immediately says no to that idea, but then he remembers Steve’s laugh and his amazing sarcasm that rivals his own and thinks maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.

After about ten more minutes, Shaan comes back into the room and gives them the all-clear. Tony jumps up straight away but Steve has a bit more trouble, given the fact that he’s much bigger than Tony and also stuck underneath a step ladder. Tony pulls him up with a shit-eating grin on his face and Steve warns him not to tell anyone about this or he will send someone after him. Shaan watches them with a weird smile on his face but quickly snaps out of it and hands Tony off to Happy (his bodyguard) who was apparently waiting outside.

“We’re meeting Amy back at the palace,” Happy says, not looking up from his phone. “Then we’re out of here, so say your goodbyes now.”

Tony nods, then turns back to Steve. “Give me your phone.”

Steve gives him a weird look but unlocks the phone and hands it over anyway. Tony grabs it and wordlessly enters his number before giving it back to him. 

“If we’re gonna keep this up, we’re gonna need each other's numbers,” Tony says. “Text me.” 

And with that, he’s gone. 

-

“Tony!” Pepper yells from the house as soon as Tony exits the plane. Not wasting any more time, she runs out and almost knocks him over with a bone-crushing hug. “How was it, Nat’s here and she wants to know everything as well, we watched a few interviews and you guys played the part of being friends super well but we were worried you were going to mess it up-” 

“Pep,” Tony laughs. “You know I love you but maybe give me some time to get used to America again before attacking me?”

She rolls her eyes. “You and I both know you’re completely fine now follow me.” 

It was worth a try. 

“Tones!” Nat screams, surprisingly high pitched for someone who rarely ever yells. “I just heard about the shooting, is everything okay?”

Pepper whirls around. “You never told me about a shooting.”

“I’ve been home for two minutes guys,” He says with an exasperated smile on his face. “Let me put my stuff down and shower, I’ll meet you in Pep’s room in an hour.” 

Not giving them any time to argue, Tony walks away. He loves his friends he really does. They're just a bit aggressive sometimes, so it's always good to give them a bit of time to cool down and breathe before trying to understand them. 

He reaches his room and throws open his door with a smile. Even if he was only gone for 2 days, it's always nice to come back home. His bed is still unmade and clothes are strewn all over the floor, (he refuses to let someone clean it for him) but it’s still home. 

The thought of Howard comes up, but he ignores it in favor of thinking about how Pepper and Nat are going to react to the hospital story. (He has to think of a better name for that.) 

Tossing all his stuff onto his bed, he makes a mental note to clean it all up later. He walks over to his desk and reviews the mess of campaign shit he left for future him to clean up. He has notes on Ty Stone, his mom's opponent in the upcoming election. Lately, Tony has been spending a decent amount of time in the House and Senate buildings. He's been trying to get some information on Stone from his old relationships, but none of them know anything or are willing to tell him anything. 

Then there's the issue of Stone wanting an independent senator as vice president, which means he will be looking for a good one soon. There are a few options that Tony has come up with, but there's really only one they need to worry about and it's Phil Coulson. Tony is hit with another idea and decides that when this is done he's gonna go pay a visit to Jarvis. 

Smiling, Tony goes to take a shower and hurries up because Pepper will definitely kill him if he doesn't make it back soon.

-

Tony has just finished telling his story of the weekend. The three of them are sitting in the ‘basement’ (an empty room among dozens of conference rooms they claimed as their own) and Tony is lying on the floor. Nat got a knife from somewhere and is twirling it between her fingers, her head in Tony’s lap. Pepper is leaning on Tony, and there’s a movie playing on the TV but none of them are paying attention to that. He’s also like 99 percent sure Nat is drunk because there’s like 4 bottles missing from the crate of beer and Pep has only had Red Bull like him. 

"You gave him your number?" Nat asks incredulously. "2 days ago you hated his guts and now you guys are what, best buds?"

Pepper says nothing but Tony knows she's as surprised as Nat. 

"Yeah," Tony says. "So maybe I was wrong and he isn't as big of a dick as I originally thought."

"I told you!" Pepper exclaims, jumping up and pointing a finger accusingly at Tony's face. "I told you that maybe you were overreacting and being dramatic but no, you had to go be all Tony about it and it literally took an international crisis caused by you to get you to actually get over your childish hatred of him. Un-fucking-believable."

"It was not a childish hatred!" Tony says indignantly. "My hatred was completely valid thank you very much."

"No it wasn't," Nat says lazily from the floor. She waves a bottle in Pepper's general direction. "It was not valid. Pepper's right."

Pepper throws a hand out at Nat and gives Tony a look as if what Nat just said is supposed to clear everything up. 

"Listen," Tony says. "Just because Pepper is normally always right about everything does not mean she is right about this." 

"But I am right about this," Pepper argues. "You're just too proud to admit it."

“I am not too proud,” Tony says. “Since when have I ever had any pride?”

“That’s true,” Natasha slurs, and Tony inwardly cheers because his suspicions were correct, she is drunk. “Tony has-” she stops and falls asleep. 

Sighing, Pepper looks at Tony and they both go over and lift Nat onto the couch. It’s only about 11pm but they have been talking for a while, and Tony is exhausted from the weekend. He stretches out on the other side of the couch and Pepper sets up on the floor. He’s still thinking about Ty Stone and the election by the time he falls asleep, all he can see are voting patterns and Venn diagrams. 

-

The next day, Tony decides it's time to go pay a visit to his favorite senator, Edwin Jarvis. Jarvis has been a sort of father figure to Tony for a while, but they became closer than ever when Tony worked with Jarvis on his campaign in Denver. He’s only about 39, so one of the younger and newer people around, but you could never tell that from Jarvis himself. He acts as if he’s 50 years old. Jarvis first came into this business with his dad which is how he knows him. 

“Jarvis,” He says sweetly as he waltzes into the office. 

No surprise to Tony, Jarvis is sitting behind his desk smoking a cigarette with one hand and typing on his phone with another. He has a narrow face, and his small features are constantly arranged in a sort of half-frown. His suit is freshly ironed, and it looks as if he’s barely sat down but Tony knows better. Jarvis could come into a room, sit down, and not move for another 3 hours if he really wanted to. 

“Hey kid,” Jarvis laughs, motioning at Tony to sit down. “How are you?”

“I’m as good as you can be when you’ve just come back from spending the weekend with your worst enemy.” 

“Ah yes, I did hear about that. You destroyed a cake, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but that’s not what I’m here for,” Tony says, reaching into his pockets and pulling out a packet of tropical skittles. 

“Aha, fuck yes, Tony I’ve taught you well,” Jarvis snatches the skittles up. “So, you haven’t come to talk about your international incident and you’ve brought skittles, does that mean you’re gonna talk politics?”

“How did you guess,” Tony says dryly. “Did the fact that I came in during your work hours give any indication at all?”

“Now that I think about it, no.”

“Great, well aside from your horrible sleuthing skills I need to talk to you about something.”

“Does this something have a name? Phil Coulson, maybe?” 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Listen, kid,” Jarvis sighs. “From what I’ve heard, Coulson is a free agent. He has some strong feelings about your mom’s economic platform, but then again social issues would normally push him your way. I don’t know what you want me to tell you, you probably know his voting record better than I do. He doesn’t fall on one side of the aisle. He might go for something completely different. I’m not an expert alright?” 

Tony can tell Jarvis knows something. 

“Anything else?” 

“I know Stone is promising any Independents a centrist platform with big shake-ups on non-social issues. There’s a part of that platform that will not line up with Coulson’s position on healthcare. I’d start there if I were you.” 

“So there’s no point in chasing down leads on anyone that’s not Stone?” 

“No kid, there really isn’t."

“You’re the best Jarvis,” Tony smiles. 

-

Back at home, Tony pulls out his notes again. 

He’s been trying to find shit on Stone that his mom’s team hasn’t found yet, but it's fucking hard and Tony is almost ready to give up. Ty Stone, supposedly the only frontrunner for his mother’s opponent in the general. He’s been a senator for Utah for nearly twenty years, which means a shit ton of voting history and legislation that has already been looked over. Tony is more interested in the things buried a little deeper. 

After about an hour of working, Tony comes up for air and finds two messages on his phone. One from Pepper, which says something about dinner and another from an unknown number. He can hear Pepper’s voice in his head telling him not to open messages like that as he opens the unknown message, but he does it anyway. 

It's a picture of a billboard, a clown posing on a unicycle. The message reads:

Saw this and thought of you.  
(This is Steve by the way.)

Tony laughs out loud, then stops himself because he can’t laugh at Steve’s jokes, no matter how funny they are. He looks around and finds his trash can. Grinning like an idiot, he snaps a picture and sends it to Steve with the caption:

i think this a pretty accurate picture of you

They continue like that for a while, Tony finding random shit around his room to send to Steve, and Steve coming back with more photos of stuff he finds in the city. Before Tony even knows what’s happening, it's 9 pm and he’s yelling at Steve to go to sleep and threatening him with paparazzi. 

Pepper pops her head in, telling Tony about pizza waiting for him downstairs. He nods, shooting off a message to Steve about dinner and telling him if he isn’t asleep when he comes back, he’s knocking over another 75,000 dollar cake. 

Following Pepper down the stairs, he finds his mom lounging on the couch with a slice of pizza. He goes and gives her a kiss on the cheek before sitting down on the floor by her legs. Pepper lies her head in his lap and stretches her legs out. 

“Is dad here?” He asks cautiously, ready to bolt if he is. 

“No sweetie,” His mom says with a sad smile on his face. “He’s passed out upstairs right now.”

He doesn’t say anything, but she understands. She always does. 

They sit there quietly for a bit, eating pizza and thinking before Maria breaks the silence. 

“So I was thinking about the two of you, and Nat,” She says. “And I was also thinking about campaign jobs.” 

Tony whips his head around and stares at his mom, shock written all over his face. “Campaign jobs? For us?” 

“Well yeah, if you guys want them.” 

“Are you kidding? Of course, we do!”

“I don’t,” Pepper speaks up for the first time that evening. 

They both turn and look at her. 

“I just got a promotion at the magazine I’m working at, this could mean a lot for me,” She says. “I don’t want a campaign job of writing speeches for 4 hours every day to interfere with that.” 

Maria looks like she wants to argue, but decides against it and looks at Tony. “So you’ll take it?”

“Yeah,” He says, nodding slowly. “Yeah, I will. And I can talk to Nat about it too.” 

He’s always wanted this job, but whenever he imagined himself with this job, he pictured working with Pepper and Nat. He would be running point on policy, lots of researching and writing, Pepper would obviously be communications, speeches, and all that jazz. Nat would do analytics and they would be a powerhouse and it would be amazing

But if Pepper doesn’t want this, does that mean Nat wouldn't either? To be fair, Pepper did have a degree in journalism, and Nat was attending MIT but does that mean they were never gonna get the chance to work? Was he being selfish? He was probably being selfish. There are way too many questions to deal with here, and Tony’s mind is going into overdrive. 

“Okay,” Maria says, bringing her hands together and sitting up properly on the couch. She brings her legs up and tucks them underneath her. “Come sit here guys, let’s have a movie night.” 

Tony doesn’t hesitate to jump up on the couch and nestle in beside Maria. They haven’t had a night like this in so long, and it feels nice. Pepper waits just a fraction of a second before following Tony and settling in on Maria’s other side. She grabs the remote and turns on a cheesy rom-com that they all love to hate. Maria starts talking about how they should’ve made popcorn and Pepper starts arguing that chips would be better. Tony jumps in occasionally and they spend the night and most of the morning being a normal family. It’s nice. 

-

Tony spends the next few weeks holed up in the house with Nat and Pepper, attending meetings with his mom and getting the feel of what it would be like to work in Congress. He hasn’t actually started the job yet, but he might as well have with the amount of work there is. 

Pepper is busy as well, writing up columns and actually putting her journalism degree to good use. Nat spends her time alternating between helping Tony and reading the articles speculating about him and Steve’s friendship. According to Nat, people have already started writing fanfiction and Tony spills his coffee when he hears that. 

He and Steve have been texting a lot though, he stayed up with him one night while Steve was bingeing the original Star Wars trilogy. He kept giving his input which resulted in Steve begging him to shut up so he could actually pay attention to the movie. (Obviously, Tony just talked even more.) 

They make fun of the articles and Steve sends him a link to an article by Daily Mail, ‘Is Tony Stark Considering Fatherhood?’ along with the message, but darling how could you, we were in love! This results in Tony getting kicked out of a meeting with Zahra because he laughed too hard. 

They slowly learn more and more about each other and their messages become frequent enough that Tony now waits for the moment when he can check his phone to see what Steve has in store for him today. Steve sends him photos of his dog in a hoodie, and Tony accuses him of animal abuse. He learns more about Steve’s sister too. Her name is Peggy and she’s 3 years older than him. They swap stories about their traumatic childhoods of being stuffed into heels and dresses by their devil older sisters. 

Tony tells him about Nat and Steve tells him about his best friend, Bucky. They joke about setting the two of them up, and they laugh about stupid stories involving the trio. Steve tells him about the charities he’s been working to set up, half of them owned by Bucky. They spend at least an hour debunking the fact list that Tony was given right before their first meeting and Tony learns about how Steve’s favorite food is actually not a mutton pie but an old falafel stand 10 minutes from the palace. 

Tony also learns some stuff that he would never expect like Steve is actually super into drawing and spends hours of his day sitting in the palace gardens and sketching whatever comes to mind. He learns that Steve could talk for hours about the freedom of speech and basic human rights, and they get into a lot of heated discussions about that as well. Tony learns that if you let him, Steve could go on forever about things that no one actually cares about like the history of certain cities and even the proper way to operate a sailboat. (He is speaking from experience here, Steve talked for five hours.)

Steve swears, not as much as Tony but still enough. Unless you get him mad, then it’s bloody fucking hell all around. 

To be honest, Tony doesn’t even realize how close he and Steve have actually become until he’s sitting in the basement, furiously texting Steve about the unfairness of couches not molding to your body as soon as you sit down. 

“Who are you texting now?” Nat asks impatiently. She’s sitting cross-legged on the floor with Pepper who is also staring at him now. “You’re always texting someone and laughing at your phone, but you won’t tell us who you’re talking to. It's exhausting.” 

“No one,” He says. “Just Steve.”

They both look at each other, then back at him with unimpressed faces. “Nice try, now tell us the truth Tony,” Pepper says. 

“I’m not kidding!” He exclaims. “Look!”

He shows them all their messages, scrolling all the way back to the first photo. There’s a shit ton of messages. 

“I didn’t know you guys had become such good friends,” Pepper says slowly. 

“Yeah,” Tony says after a moment. “I guess we are good friends? He’s funny, which is surprising so that helps.”

They both nod, and that’s that. 

But Tony is still thinking about that as he sits down at his desk later that night. Were they really that close? It isn’t as if Tony pays attention to how close he gets to some people, but you’d think he would notice if his enemy turned into one of his closest friends. It isn’t exactly a bad thing, Steve is way better than he first thought, obviously. Tony resolves to think about this later, because right now he needs to get some work done, then sleep. He hasn’t slept in about 30 hours, as Steve has reminded him many times. 

Maybe I should just sleep right now, he thinks. 

Deciding that this is obviously the smartest decision he crawls into bed and falls asleep, not thinking about his relationship with Steve until a week before Christmas dinner. 

“You’re telling me,” Tony says as he struggles to keep up with his mom. “That those fucking turkeys have been staying in a luxury suite at the Willard provided by the government?” 

“Yes, sweetie now-”

“Disgusting!” He yells. “Atrocity!” 

“There are two turkeys named Cornbread and Stuffing staying at the Willard and I really don’t understand what you want me to do-”

“Bring them to the house and put them in my room,” Tony blurts out. 

“No.”

“Do it.”

“Tony no-”

“Mom.”

And that is how Tony ended up with two forty pound turkeys in a cage in his room. He’s regretting his decision the moment he locks eyes with one of them. (Cornbread or stuffing he cannot tell the difference) They stare back with a vengeance. 

HELP, Tony texts Steve. I’M ABOUT TO BE MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD BY TWO VICIOUS VICIOUS ANIMALS

Tony looks back up at the turkeys to find they have both moved to the front of the cage and are glaring at him. He shudders and crawls back into his bed and jumps directly underneath the blankets. He had big plans for tonight, finish up an essay and then watch Netflix for 3 hours but now, he’s way too stressed to even think about Netflix. 

His phone buzzes with a message and he snatches it up immediately. 

HRH Prince Dickhead/Steve:  
Vicious animals? 

turkeys, he responds. theyre in my room and theyre plotting to kill me

So you can talk to Turkeys now? 

theyre gobbling, steve. gobbling.

Right, that's my mistake, gobbling is clearly a sign of plotting. 

“Fuck off,” Tony says the moment the call connects. “You’ll regret that as soon as you hear their gobbling.” 

“Tony,” Steve sighs. “It's 3 in the morning, and you’re ringing to talk to me about turkeys. Do you see the problem here?” 

He pauses for a moment “No, I really don’t.”

“God, I hate you.”

“That’s okay but listen to these turkeys.”

He crawls over as close as he dares and puts his phone next to the cage.  
“Can you hear them?”

“Tony, I can’t hear anything, are you sure this isn’t just you going insane because you haven’t slept in over 24 hours?”

“Shut the fuck up and listen.”

Tony sits next to the cage for 20 minutes, but the turkeys are completely silent. Traitors. 

“They were gobbling I swear,” Tony says into the phone, glaring at the cage. “They’re just determined to make a complete fool out of me.”

“Oh but you do that all by yourself,” Steve says innocently. 

“There has to be a way to get the turkeys to gobble.”

“Sure there is,” Steve says. “I can teach you.” 

“Really?”

“All you have to do is gain the turkey's trust. Lean down and put your face right in front of the cage to show you’re not afraid.”

“Okay,” Tony says, following Steve’s instructions. “Now what”

“Now you befriend the turkey, let him know you mean no harm … get down on one knee … live a long happy life..”

“Oh get the fuck out!” Tony yells into the phone, jumping back from the cage at exceptional speed. The turkey lets out one loud gobble and Tony whirls around. “Did you hear that?” 

“Sorry, I think it’s just you, Mr. Turkey whisperer.”

“I hate you.”

“I know.”

“So what are you doing, or what were you doing before I interrupted you with my crisis?”

“Watching some TV.”

“What were you watching,” Tony asks as he settles back into his covers and tries to ignore the cage. “Anything I know?”

He coughs. “I doubt it.”

“Ooh, now I’m intrigued.”

“You’ll laugh at me.”

“Yes, I will, now tell me.” 

“British Bake Off.”

“British Bak-” Tony laughs. “You’re such a nerd.”

“Fuck off, or I’m telling everyone about how terrified you were about two turkeys.”

“That’s fair,” Tony sobers up. He doesn’t want that information being spread anywhere, one person is enough. “So why a cooking show?”

“Well..” Steve starts. 

Tony grins. He can tell Steve is about to start one of his long rambling rants, this should be interesting. 

-

They ended up talking the whole night, the conversation ending only when Steve declared he had to go for a meeting soon. Tony had reluctantly hung up the phone, leaving him in complete silence for the first time in hours. 

Not wanting his mind to start overthinking and dissecting their conversation, he gets up to go see if breakfast is ready. He walks into the kitchen to find Pepper cooking breakfast, which isn’t a surprise. Their mom had hired people for this sort of thing, but their family had never gotten used to having someone cook for them every day so they sort of gave up on that. Howard still uses his maid for everything, which doesn’t surprise anyone. 

“Hey Tony,” Nat greets him from where she’s sitting on the counter, her legs propped up on a chair. “You’re up early.”

“I didn’t actually sleep,” Tony laughs weakly, rubbing a hand over his face. 

Pepper glares at him as she flips a pancake. “You need to take a break from work, it's not healthy to stay up all night like that.”

“Relax Pep I wasn’t working.”

“Then what were you doing?”

“Talking to Steve,” He says, going to grab a mug from the cabinet. He doesn’t even realize how quiet it's gotten until he turns back to the pair with his coffee in hand. “What? What did I do?”

“You talked to Steve for the entire night?” Nat asks, disbelieving.

“Yeah? I called him at around 10ish about the turkeys, he was being a dick and we ended up talking all night.”

She nods, sipping her coffee and eyeing Tony with a weird look in her eyes. 

He rolls his eyes. He should’ve expected them to overthink this. They’re clearly just reading way too much into this, all he’d done was stay up all night. Talking to Steve. The guy who up until a few months ago, was his enemy. That was normal right? 

Stop it, he scolded himself. This is just Pepper and Nat getting into his head with their weird looks and unspoken words. There is nothing happening with him and Steve. They’re just friends, and Tony is straight anyway. 

(To be honest, Tony isn’t even sure about that either but let’s save that for later.)

Shaking his head, he grabs a waffle and goes back to his room to escape those two. Deciding that now is probably a good time to start on those assignments he’s been putting off for about 2 weeks, Tony gets to work. 

Plus this is a really good distraction from thinking about Steve. Not that it’s relevant or anything, it’s not like he’s actually thinking about Steve. 

Is he? 

Fuck.

-

Christmas dinner has always been a weird time for the family. It’s sort of the only time during the whole year that Howard will emerge from his cave or whatever apartment he was staying at to come to have dinner with everyone else. Like some sort of fucked up Hallmark Christmas card. 

An abusive dad, a distant mother, a perfectionist sister, a dysfunctional son, and the best friend who inserts herself into their family because she doesn’t have anyone else. 

The picture of happiness, Tony thinks with a dry laugh under his breath. 

They’re all sitting at the table in complete silence. The only sound is coming from the clinking of cutlery against the plates and the occasional slam against the table as Howard places down his glass. They’ve been sitting for about 30 minutes and Tony’s more stressed than ever. He’s bouncing his leg up and down and is tapping out a rhythm on the table, quietly so Howard can’t hear him. He’s trying to keep his mind occupied by running the numbers on Texas and their status right now, but that’s not working as well. He just wants to get out, he feels like he’s suffocating. He slams a hand down on his leg to stop it from moving as much and Pepper looks at him with a sad smile in her eyes. 

Sorry, she mouths. As if it’s her fault. It's not her fault, it’s his. If he wasn’t such a fuck up in the eyes of Howard then maybe this wouldn’t be as bad and maybe they could just be a normal family. But he had to go and disappoint Howard from the beginning and now they’re all stuck in complete silence and there’s no one to blame but him. 

“So,” Howard says loudly, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “I was thinking about the campaign.”

Maria’s face goes pinched and tight, Tony can tell they’ve had this conversation many times before. “Sweetheart, we discussed this already.”

“I know, but I thought it was time we got them involved too,” He says, waving a hand to the kids. 

“I really don’t see why-”

“I was thinking of campaigning with your mother this time around,” He interrupts. “I think it would be good for our image and I wanted to get your point of view.” 

Tony says nothing, staring at the food in front of him. He wishes he could just disappear right now, it would solve a lot of problems. 

“Good for our image in what way?” Pepper asks cautiously. 

“Just, showing that we’re a happy family and all.”

Tony can’t stop himself and is kicking himself as the words slip out of his mouth: “We all know that that’s a fucking lie, Dad.” 

Shit. 

Howard turns his head slowly to lock his eyes on Tony. 

“And why does it matter if it’s a lie or not? This is politics boy, stop acting as if you know better than me.” 

Tony swallows, his throat going dry and his hands starting to shake. He clenches his fists to stop them, and Nat places a soft hand on his. He looks at her and tries to smile, but it doesn’t work.

“I think Tony is just trying to say he wants to keep this as honest as possible,” Nat jumps in with a too-sweet smile. “I don’t see how that’s a bad thing.”

“Shut your mouth, you’re not even a part of this damn family,” Howard snaps. 

Nat recoils like she’s been slapped, but quickly rebounds and stares down Howard, a fire in her eyes. “I’ve been a better part of this family than you ever were, Howard, so I suggest you leave everyone alone and do what you best. Drink yourself into a stupor and pass out.”

Tony gapes at her. She turns and smiles at him, leaning in and dropping a kiss in his hair. She says nothing, but Tony understands. She’s trying to keep him safe. It's what she always does, but Tony needs to learn how to fight his own battles. He gives Nat’s hand a quick squeeze then drops it, pinning his full attention on Howard. He’s terrified but doesn’t let that show in his face. 

“It's Christmas Eve, Dad. Could you stop acting like a dick for once in your fucking life and just let people live their lives? If Mom doesn’t want you campaigning with her then you’re not campaigning with her. It’s just that simple.”

“Tony-” Maria starts but is cut off by Howard once again. 

“No, I’ve got this,” Howard laughs coldly. “You think you’re better than me son? Trying to act as if you’re not a complete failure, as if you haven’t disappointed all of us time and time again? Grow up, Tony. You’re never going to get into politics and you’re nothing without this family. So I suggest you start playing your part nicely or I’m gonna have to teach you a lesson.”

He feels the tears in his eyes as Maria quickly shuts Howard up with a glare. She looks at him. “Tony-”

But he’s gone, he’s running away like he always does. He sprints up the stairs to his room and slams the door. He feels like a teenager again but can’t bring himself to care as tears stream down his face.

It’s like an out of body experience, he sees himself grab his phone and dial a number but doesn’t even realize what’s going on until he hears Steve voice through the speaker. “Tony?”

It feels like a giant weight has been lifted off his shoulders at the sound of his voice. “Steve.”

“What’s wrong, is everything okay?” He sounds worried and Tony feels guilty. He doesn’t want Steve to worry. 

“I just- can I talk to you for a bit?”

“Yeah, sure of course just hold on,” Steve covers the speaker and Tony hears muffled voices, a door shutting, then silence. “Right then, what's going on?”

Tony wonders for a second about what he’s doing, spilling all his secrets to Steve like this but he really can’t bring himself to care right now. 

He’s telling Steve about it all, about Howard and his grade A parenting skills, about Tony’s own fears and how it sometimes feels like everything's just building up on top of him and Tony can’t figure out how to get rid of it. How it feels like he’s drowning in a room where everyone is pointing and laughing, how the weight of trying to make everyone proud is just getting to be so much and how much Tony wants it all to go away.

Steve’s quiet for a bit and Tony is immediately regretting the decision on telling him all this when Steve speaks: “I think you need to give yourself a break, Tony.”

Tony laughs. “I’ve heard that before.”

“No,” Steve insists. “I mean a proper break. Not just going on vacation but let yourself relax a bit, let somebody else worry for a change. You work yourself too hard and your expectations are so high, it's a wonder you haven’t given up yet. Let yourself breathe, let go for a bit. I’m sure missing two days or so wouldn’t be as bad as you think.”

Tony feels something inside him break, just a little bit. “I don’t think I know how to do that,” He whispers.

“Well you don’t need to figure it all out right now,” Steve says gently. “How about you just get some rest, yeah?”

“Okay,” Tony says. He leaves his phone on his bed as he goes to get changed, grabbing it again when he crawls into bed. 

“You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah,” He says softly. “Eventually, I think.”

“Do you want me to stay on the phone with you?”

“Could you? I feel like an idiot but it would be nice, I don’t wanna intrude on any plans though so-”

“Tony,” Steve cuts him off, a smile evident in his voice. “I would be happy to, as long as you get some rest.”

“Thank you,” Tony says, before shutting his eyes and breathing in slowly, with Steve on the other side of the phone, the guy who managed to become such a big part of Tony’s life so fast, he can hardly believe its real. 

But it is real because Steve is there and Steve stayed with him even after he found out about Tony’s shitstorm of a life. 

He thinks he hears Steve say something as he slips into unconsciousness, but it's lost as he falls asleep. Oh well, he thinks. I’ll ask him tomorrow. 

It's the best sleep he’s had in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come yell at me<3  
> tumblr: murphyswidow   
> instagram: murphyswidow


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so first, I'm so sorry for not uploading in 2 months. My mental health and motivation just sort of went downhill and I couldn't write anything. But I'm here now! With a chapter! It's not my favorite and I don't like the end that much but it's a chapter and I'm proud of it: '). 
> 
> Hope y'all enjoy<3

The mess that had been Christmas dinner was a subject very carefully avoided by everyone in the household, including all the staff. Pepper and Nat tried hard to talk to Tony about it, but he deflected easily as if it had never happened. 

As for Howard, the man had gone to stay at one of their other properties. The place was protected by tons of efficient but discreet security, as to not alert the press that the president’s husband himself was not staying at the White House. Tony hadn’t spoken to Howard and he didn’t plan to unless it was absolutely necessary. Everyone else seemed to agree with him on this, thank god. 

In fact, the event was quickly being put out of everyone’s minds as the days passed. The reason for that was simple. 

New Year’s was arriving. 

Every year, Tony, Pepper, and Nat made it their job to host the best New Year’s party of that year. It was a very informal event, nothing like the stiff, boring parties that the rest of their circle attended. This party had proper drinks, disco balls, and loads of dancing. The only thing that was formal in any way was the guest list. Which was the topic of discussion as the White House Trio sat in their basement 2 days prior to this party. Pepper called the two of them out to discuss last-minute details, iron out any mistakes they might’ve made with the planning.

The girls are going over the decoration plans and when to bring out the food. Tony is holding the guest list and tuning the girls out as they argue over how many disco balls there should be. (Pepper says 2 is fine, Nat thinks 4. Tony does not give any fucks, as long as the snacks are good.) He’s been scanning the list for the past hour, it’s long and his mind keeps wandering. He barely registers any of the names on the list as they go by, all names of the children of celebrities or other famous political figures. It’s only when he reaches the S section does he find a familiar name. 

Steve Rogers(+1), is typed up neatly amongst hundreds of others. 

He is not expecting this.

“You invited Steve?” He splutters, interrupting the argument and waving the offending document in Pepper’s face. “Why would you do that?”

She gives him a look of complete disbelief. “Because you guys are friends?”

“N- I- We are not!”

Pepper looks to Nat for some guidance, but the redhead has already pulled out her phone. Sighing, Pepper turns back to Tony. “Tones I hate to break it to you but when you talk to someone every day and tell them everything about your life, including the dark bits then that means you guys are friends.”

“I don’t tell him about the dark- how did you guys find out about that?” He says, pointing a finger at Nat. “Did you go through my phone again because I swear Romanoff-”

“Relax,” Nat says. “We didn’t go through your phone but we did notice the way you’ve been acting.”

He’s confused and it must be written all over his face because Nat continues her explanation. “You’re walking around as if a big weight has been taken off your shoulders, and you’re constantly smiling at your phone. Whenever something mildly shitty happens you pull out your phone and leave the room. Since you don’t have any other friends apart from us and you don’t talk to anyone on your phone that often, we came to the logical conclusion that you tell Steve a lot more than you let on, which means you guys are friends. Case closed.”

He doesn’t really know what to say to this so he just nods. Pepper gives him a sympathetic look, bringing him in for a hug. “You’re such a dumbass sometimes.”

He laughs into her hair, breathing in the smell of her rose-scented perfume. After a few seconds, he pulls back and clears his throat. “So, who’s his plus one?”

Nat throws a pillow at him.

-

The day of the party passes by in a blur of balloons, confetti, cake testing, and Nat’s shouting every time he walks into the room. One of the decorators gets so scared he drops a dozen cupcakes and Tony is pretty sure Nat’s eyes are lit on fire.

He makes sure to steer clear of the East Room after that. 

He stays in his own room, for the most part, watching some movies or flipping through his information folders again. He’s never really been good at keeping himself busy, or well he is, but for some reason, he can’t keep his mind focused on anything today. He eventually gives up at about 3 in the afternoon and walks out to go find his sister. Pepper has also been staying away from Nat today, which is a wise decision because she isn’t even shouting anymore she’s just giving everybody death glares which, in Tony’s opinion, are much scarier. 

He finds her in the informal living room, the one reserved for just family and close friends. She’s sitting with her legs tucked underneath her on the couch, flipping through a magazine while something plays on the tv. The floor is pretty spotless, covered by a single rug they brought from their old house. The pillows have been thrown to the side of the couch, save for one that Pepper is resting on. It all looks very peaceful and Tony hates to ruin it, but he does it anyway because he’s bored and Steve isn’t responding to his texts which Tony finds offensive. 

She glances over with a smile, folding up the magazine and placing it to her left. “Got bored of hiding in your room?”

“Yeah, plus I decided it was time we go and help her, maybe calm her down a little.”

She nods to this, standing up and pulling her hair into a ponytail. “Then let’s go.”

They spend the rest of the day putting out fires before Nat notices, directing the staff and hanging up decorations all over the room. Before long, the East Room is transformed into a magnificent combination of gold and rose-colored streamers. There are balloons hanging from the ceiling, the disco balls (there’s 2, Nat decided to let Pepper have this one) are spinning and generally looking very pretty. There’s a self-serve bar in the corner and a table laid out with food that people eat while dancing. 

The trio goes to get ready, Nat starts flat ironing her hair and Pepper throws on some makeup. Tony just puts on a suit and messes his hair up, jumping on Pepper’s bed to watch as the girls finish up. He pulls out his phone and opens Instagram to find a picture of Steve on a plane, with Bucky in the background. The caption says something about the incredible as fuck White House party they’re hosting, more professionally named Young America’s New Year’s Eve Party. 

Tony smiles involuntarily as he stares at Steve dressed up in a plain grey hoodie and some sweatpants. He doesn’t look as tired as he normally does, which he counts as a good thing. His hair looks perfect still, which doesn’t really make sense because he’s been on a plane and no one should have hair that perfect if they’ve spent around 5 hours in a glorified tin can. Even he looks perfect which isn’t even fair because every time Tony spends a long time in a plane he looks as if he hasn’t seen the sun in years and his hair is always flat, so the fact that Steve’s hair is fucking gorgeous and sort of golden is annoying and why is he thinking about Steve’s hair anyway?

Deciding that this is not something he should be doing, he hops up and joins the girls at the mirror, putting all thoughts of Prince Steve and his nice hair out of his mind. 

-

The party has barely just begun, but Tony’s already done two shots and is readying another when he feels Nat’s hand on his arm. He turns and spots Steve, looking as handsome as ever. His hands are in his pockets and he’s dressed up in a simple grey suit that makes him look even more like a supermodel. He’s leaning slightly towards, the brown-haired man next to him, who Tony assumes is Bucky. Bucky’s decked out in a leather jacket which should completely clash with the pink hair clips he has pinned in his shoulder-length hair, but somehow he makes it work. Tony’s stomach swoops just the slightest bit when Steve catches his eye and smiles. 

He is definitely not drunk enough for this. 

He downs his shot and another one he found on the table, before latching onto Pepper’s arm and forcing her to greet Steve with him. Nat is off flirting with the girl who starred in one of the new Netflix originals and she looks like she’s having fun so Tony doesn’t want to disrupt that. Pepper is laughing in his ear about something he isn’t quite paying attention to because his mind is focused on Steve. 

They reach the pair in a few seconds and Tony greets Steve with a sloppy grin and an overly formal handshake. Bucky laughs at him and introduces himself to Pepper with a wink, then they’re off on the dance floor before Tony can get a word in. He turns back to Steve and finds him smiling. “Bucky has been waiting to meet Pepper and Nat since he saw them at the wedding.”

Tony short circuits. Steve’s voice is definitely deeper and way smoother than he remembers, or maybe that’s just the alcohol. He chalks it up to alcohol and starts to drag Steve through the throng of people screaming and swaying along to the live music that Pepper organized. The crowds part easily and people are gaping, probably because the sight of the First Son and the Prince of England is not something you’d expect at a new year’s party like this. Ignoring the looks everyone is giving them, Tony heads straight to the bar and pours a row of shots for him and Steve.

Steve raises one eyebrow and turns to Tony as if to say ‘are we really doing this?’ Tony does nothing to acknowledge this except pick up one of the glasses and hand them to him. 

“Bottoms up!” He says, throwing back the glass and wincing a little as it burns. 

Steve does the same, before swiftly grabbing another and downing that too. Tony stares at him in shock, and he laughs. “I’ve done this sort of thing before, you know. Now come on, catch up.”

Tony scrambles to do two more shots and Steve matches him. They’re lining up to do another when he hears the familiar beat of one of the songs from his childhood that is somehow still making the rounds. 

“Oh fucking YES!” He yells, surprising Steve who jumps a bit. “This was my shit! Motherfucking shit I tell you, where’s Nat I need her.”

He’s spinning around trying to spot the redhead and Steve, bless him, just looks politely confused. “Sorry, what is going on?”

“Ohh my god you have to come dance with me, Steven,” Tony says, finally having spotted Nat and making a beeline towards her. “This was like, the song when I was a child.”

“Is that supposed to clear things up?”

“Just come dance alright?” 

He spins Nat around and she shouts, taking one last drink from her glass before dropping it on a tray nearby. She grabs his hips and starts swaying, they’re both laughing and everything is slightly hazy. The music is pounding in his ears and he feels Nat moving against him and it's all just so perfect that it takes him a few seconds to come back down. He looks over and sees Steve still standing there. Pepper passes by and he quickly hands Nat off to her with a smile and grabs onto Steve’s hand. 

He is once again dragging him, but this time it’s towards the middle of the floor and his friends follow. Steve looks frozen, and Tony feels bad. 

“You need to loosen up, otherwise this won’t be fun.”

“I am perfectly fine-”

“Shut up and dance, Steve,” Tony interrupts, a smile forming on his face. His hands are still holding onto Steve’s so he uses this to start moving them together, swaying side to side. He tenses up, but after a bit, he seems to finally get back to normal. 

Nat is dancing with Pepper, and they’re both laughing and screaming the words to the song. Bucky has found a dance partner as well, this dude named Sam, and they’re both dancing and cheering, even if Bucky doesn’t know the words. Everyone is moving at the same time, and it’s the most fun Tony has had in a while. Steve has found a bottle of champagne and is holding it loosely in his hands, it looks like it might drop any second. He’s laughing and smiling and looks genuinely happy, and it makes Tony feel all warm inside but he decides that has something to do with alcohol as well.

It's hot and sweaty and it should make Tony uncomfortable, all these people around him and in his space, but he’s happier than ever. The music is loud and his hair is getting in his eyes, and yet he’s having fun. He lost his blazer a while ago and loosened his collar a bit and he’s found his way back to Steve, who seems to have the same idea, having lost his blazer and tie. Tony grabs the bottle out of Steve’s hands and takes a long drink. Steve doesn’t even protest, just watches, and snatches the bottle back when he’s finished. Pepper whoops and cheers along with Nat as they watch Bucky do a complex bit of dancing that has everyone cheering by the time he’s finished. 

He feels just like any other kid in a crowd, dancing with his best friends and moving to the beat. He’s twirling Pepper and she raises her eyebrow in question as Steve comes and drags him away. He shoots her a smile and shouts the lyrics along with Steve, laughing at his accent. Bucky comes over and joins them, throwing an arm around them both and grinning ear to ear. They start swaying way too slowly and people are pushing him all around and yet Tony can’t stop smiling. 

They all come together and do a round of shots just as the countdown starts. It hits 0 and Tony’s laughing, grabbing Nat into a sticky kiss that tastes like lip gloss and peaches. It's gross and messy but it's their tradition. He hugs her again and kisses her cheek, turning back to find Steve staring at them. He’s gotten surprisingly good at reading Steve’s emotions, but this face he’s making is completely unreadable. He isn’t sure what to do when Steve just disappears. Tony doesn’t let himself overthink this, he’s probably just gone off to get another drink. 

Shaking his head a little bit, he allows himself to be spun back to the dance floor. 

An hour later, Steve still hasn't come back. 

At this point, Tony is worried. He’s already gone and done a sweep of the room two times, checking the buffet, the bar, even asking Bucky. He doesn’t answer, just smiles sadly, and dances away with Pepper. He’s starting to get worried when he finally spots the man he’s looking for, standing out in the gardens and leaning against a tree. Tony blinks once, twice, and finally snaps out of it, walking outside to go see him. 

When he reaches Steve, he’s surprised by the look on his face once again. Steve looks, well, Steve looks sad. And he can’t figure out why. 

“Hey,” Tony says, leaning beside him and knocking their shoulders together. “What are you doing out here?” 

“Fresh air,” He replies, turning his face slightly to look at Tony. Half his face is hidden in the shadows and the other half is lit up by the moonlight, making him look something like an angel. Tony would probably be thinking of something really poetic and fancy right now, but he’s had a lot to drink so all he can think is that Steve is really fucking beautiful. 

“Do you ever wonder,” Steve continues, making Tony jump a little bit. “What would your life be like if you weren’t the son of the President? If you were just a normal kid leading a rather boring life in Texas?”

“No,” He admits. And that’s the truth, sort of. Tony has never thought about that because he never lets himself think about that. He doesn’t want to imagine what would happen if he wasn’t the president’s son, because sometimes it feels like that’s all he is. “You?”

“All the time,” Steve says quietly, kicking his foot and shoving his hands in his pockets. “Doesn’t do me any good, it’s not as if it’ll change anything.” 

“Steve,” He says, nudging him slightly with his elbow. “You can talk to me.”

To his surprise, Steve laughs. “No, I really can’t but thanks for the offer, Tony.”

“Well if you can’t talk to me, you should at least talk to someone. Don’t you have a girl back home or something?”

“Or something.”

“Okay you’re gonna have to give me a bit more than that sweetheart, I may be smart but I have yet to figure you out completely.”

“It’s just,” He tries. “It’s just hard for someone like me to be in a proper relationship.”

“Someone like you?” Tony’s very confused and he feels like he’s missing something but can’t figure out what. “You mean like a prince?”

“That bit too.”

“What?”

He can’t figure out if it’s the alcohol or him just being dumb but he doesn’t have a clue as to what Steve is talking about right now. He’s definitely missing something, that much is obvious. 

“Just that, there are people who make it hard for people like me to be in a proper relationship.”

“I’m lost.”

Steve sighs, turning to fully face Tony, his blue eyes staring straight at him. His face is completely lit up now, and he looks very much like an angel. It’s quite unsettling for Tony. 

“You really have no idea what I’m trying to say?”

“Nope,” Tony says, shaking his head. “Wou-”

Whatever he’s trying to say gets cut off as Steve grabs both sides of his face and kisses him. 

He doesn’t realize what’s happening until Steve tries to pull away. He doesn’t really know what’s happening but he definitely doesn’t want this to stop so he grabs Steve’s tie and pulls him impossibly closer. Steve’s hands are still holding his face, and they’re moving to go behind his neck, keeping his hands linked behind him. Tony has his tie wrapped around his hand and doesn’t plan on letting go anytime soon. His other hand drops to hold Steve’s waist and he leans into the prince and Steve opens his mouth, letting Tony’s tongue brush his. 

Tony’s blanks out at this point and all he can think is Steve’s lips are incredibly soft and he tastes like mint. 

But it’s over as quickly as it started because Steve is letting go and muttering apologies, running his hands through his hair, messing it up even further. Tony is frozen and doesn’t know what to say. By the time he comes to his senses, Steve is gone and he’s alone in   
the garden. 

He tastes like mint. 

-

Tony isn’t exactly sure of what he’s supposed to do after something like that. He’s texted Steve a few times but hasn’t gotten a response yet. His mind is a mess and classes are harder than ever but the only thing he’s sure of, the one thing that is always there no matter how hard he tries to get it to leave, is Steve. 

Steve, with his blond hair that gets messier the later it gets. With the beautiful laugh and corniest jokes. Steve, with soft lips that taste like mint, the prince who kisses him senseless and leaves him under the moonlight. Steve, who listens when he complains and tells him he’s doing good and to give himself a break. Steve. 

Whenever something like this happens, Tony is a big fan of avoiding the problem altogether and diving into something else. So that’s what he did. He bothered his mom and insisted he gets the campaign job now. She can sense something is wrong but gives him the job anyway, with a warning to not mess it up or she’s having him assassinated. 

This is how, bright and early on a Monday morning, with classes in 3 hours, Tony finds himself following a lady with shiny blue hair as she shows him to his desk. She introduces herself as Valkyrie then leaves. In the desk next to him, there’s a dude named Scott who never stops asking questions about his mom. He deflects easily and goes to get another cup of coffee. He doesn’t make friends, he’s never been good at that. 

For the next week, Tony drowns himself in coffee and binders filled with data from the focus groups. He’s given assignments and he works till midnight, finally going home only to start his classwork and leave for the office again at 7. He gets around 2 hours of sleep every night and he doesn’t think about Steve. 

Nat starts the job too, and she seems to be having fun. You can never really tell with her, she only shows emotions around people she trusts. The other staff flock to her though, inviting her for after-work drinks, and she declines with a smile and a promise to come to the next one. She stays to make sure Tony leaves because they both know that if she didn’t Tony would end up staying the whole night. She’s the one who coaxes him out of his chair and into the car, dropping him off and giving Pepper a quick hug before heading back to her place. 

They both know something’s wrong, but they haven’t asked him anything yet. Tony is grateful. He isn’t even sure what’s wrong anymore. He wants to talk to someone but doesn’t want to deal with the questions and the pitying stares. He wants to see Steve again, but he can’t because the bastard still hasn’t responded to his messages. The closest thing he’s had is a picture of Steve on a date with a girl. Tony’s stomach curls when he sees that and he trashes it immediately. 

Howard is back around the White House, but this time he doesn’t stay in his room. 

Instead, he’s all over the house. Tony will come home to find Howard passed out on the couch with his feet dangling off the edge and bottles littering the surface of the coffee table. Something inside Tony is screaming and all he wants to do is smash the bottle on Howard’s head. But he decides to head upstairs and get back to work, to pretend this isn’t happening. 

One morning, Tony heads down to the kitchen. He expects to find Pepper there, taking the folders out of his hand and passing him a waffle instead. (She really is the best sister.) What he finds is Howard on the stools by the counter with his feet up, nursing a bottle of wine, and a fierce glare when he sees Tony. 

“What’re you doin’ up so early?” He slurs, swinging out of the chair and making his way over to Tony. 

He can feel his hands start to tremble, but he ignores it. Clenching his hand into a fist and gripping his papers tight, he forces himself to calm down. “Getting coffee, what are you doing?”

“I don’t need no excuse to be in my own kitchen, do I?” 

“Not exactly your kitchen, is it,” Tony mutters, moving in a wide circle around Howard to get to the coffee machine. There’s already coffee made, thank god. He wants to spend as little time as possible around his father. 

“What did you say?”

“Nothing,” He says, louder this time so Howard can hear him. “Bye Dad.”

As he passes him, Howard reaches out and grabs his wrist. He tries to let go but his dad is gripping it pretty tight and he’s stuck. 

“You know, I don’t ever want to hurt you, Tony.”

Tony almost laughs out loud but he sees the look on Howard’s face and stays quiet. He really isn’t sure what Howard wants but it’s better not to question him until he’s finished. Besides, it’s not as if he’s running late. He gets to the office at least half an hour early every day. 

He sees Howard looking at him expectantly, so he mutters something about how he understands, (which is complete bullshit) and he continues. 

“But you need to learn, you understand?” A grin has stretched out across Howard’s face and Tony’s skin crawls. “You have so much potential to become successful like me but you waste away your days out in your room talking to that prince or hiding out at your mom’s office. You couldn’t even get a job without your mom’s help. That says something about you Tony, and I’m just trying to help you realize that.” 

He feels his throat close up, and it’s like something inside him shrivels up at those words. It’s not as bad as it normally is, but this is a polite way of Howard telling him that he’s useless without his parents' help. Which hurts. Because Howard has never been there for him, not once. He’s never really been there for any of them. Sure, he was an okay husband/dad when Pepper was little but once Tony came along it was as if he had given up. He started drinking and just never stopped. 

He needs to leave, like right now. Howard is still talking but he can’t bring himself to care as he wrenches his hand out of his grip and walks out. His hands are shaking again, and he feels like he’s going to throw up. He meets Happy outside and gets in the car without another word. He refuses to talk and ignores the voice in the back of his mind that’s telling him Howard is right and that’s probably why Steve isn’t talking to him anymore. He makes the decision that he will be talking to Nat and Pepper tomorrow, about everything. Tony isn’t sure he can handle all this by himself anymore. 

-

“So he kissed you?” 

“Yes, Pep I told you this already,” Tony sighs. “Steve kissed me on New Year’s then sort of- sort of left and I haven’t talked to him since.”

He’s sitting in Pepper’s room, with Nat and Pepper. They’re all crowded on the bed and right now Nat just looks curious while Pepper is shocked. He’s already told them about Howard and right after they heard that, Nat had gotten up with threats to stab the man. He and Pepper had to grab her and pull her back to the bed. But Pepper had looked at him and promised they would find a way to fix it. He believes her because she’s Pepper and she can do anything. 

“Okay,” Nat says, interrupting his thoughts. “What do you need us for then?”

“Well, I need to know what this means.”

“Did you like kissing him?” Pepper asks, tilting her head slightly. 

Tony pauses for a second before, “Yeah, I mean it was a good kiss.”

“Right,” Pepper says. She nudges Nat as if to say ‘this is your area not mine’ and stays silent. 

Tony does the same thing, fixing his gaze on Nat who sighs and mutters something about the two of them being useless. 

“So you like kissing Steve, and you also like kissing girls, is that right?”

He nods again. 

“I can’t exactly tell you what your sexuality is Tony, that’s not up to me to decide for you.” 

“But I’m confused!”

“Yeah this shit is confusing, but I’m not just going to go outright and assume you’re bisexual. For all I know, the only guy you’ve ever been attracted to is Steve. I don’t know enough and the only person who does is you. So think about it a little bit, and then come back to me.”

Tony groans. “Why can’t you just tell me my sexuality and I go from there? It would make it much easier.”

“Life isn’t easy shitface, now go have your crisis and I’ll be here for you when you’ve pieced it all together.”

“I hate you, you know that,” Tony says as he leaves. 

His room is right down the hall from Pepper’s so it's not like it takes him longer to get there. He walks in and just lies down on the floor, making a mental list and trying to sort through what he knows. 

That is:

\- Steve kissed him, and he liked it.   
\- He might like Steve, even just a little bit.   
\- He’s checked some boys out before, mostly in high school.  
\- He definitely likes girls.  
\- He might be slightly attracted to Shaan.   
\- He did have that weird sort of arrangement with his Thor, his best friend from high school, who he hasn’t spoken to in four years.   
\- They would watch porn together and yeah, they made out for about two hours on a tiny twin bed once but that doesn’t exactly mean anything, does it?  
It probably does. 

So he’s bisexual? That’s what this means. It's sort of the only logical conclusion, and it makes sense. He thinks he might have had a crisis like this before, back in high school but he definitely pushed that away and bottled it up for another time. That time being now. 

He’s 99 percent sure he’s bisexual, but there is someone he can talk about who can help him with this. Picking up his phone, he dials a number that he hasn’t called for a while and hits the call button. The line rings for about 2 seconds before someone picks up and a familiar voice floods through the speakers.

“Tony?”

“Um, yeah, hey,” Tony says, awkwardly, willing himself not to cringe. He just has to, you know, have a normal conversation with a guy he hasn’t spoken to in four years. This is fine. 

“Do you need something, or is this just a social call,” Thor says suspiciously. 

“Right, so this is going to sound weird-”

“Everything you say sounds weird.” 

He laughs nervously. Taking a deep breath, he just dives in and tries to make this as clear as possible. “Do you remember all that stuff we did in high school? Like, the kissing and the- the other stuff?” 

Thor says nothing. After a beat, Tony is sure that he’s blown it but then Thor says into the phone. “Give me two seconds.”

He waits and hears him talking to someone else before apparently standing up and going to stand somewhere else. Tony is still quiet because he isn’t sure he’s allowed to talk yet, when Thor goes, “Listen I’m out with my boyfriend right now, so we need to make this fast.”

“Yeah, okay,” Tony says. “So you remember right?”

“Yes, I remember and if this is you having some sort of super sexuality crisis about four years too late then I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to tell you here. What we did was, without a doubt, one hundred percent gay, and that’s all there is to it. I’m probably not the first person to tell you this, but I can’t exactly be the one to figure out who you are, for you. Only you can do that.”

Tony sighs. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine, thanks anyway.”

“Is that everything?” 

“Yeah, I think. And Thor?”

“Yes?”

“Uh, I’m sorry?” 

“Jesus Christ,” Thor groans, before hanging up and the line goes dead. 

Well. That went well. It didn’t really achieve much, and Tony should definitely try and muster up a better apology for Thor, but at least he’s sure now. Sort of. There doesn’t really seem to be any other option for him, and he just really wants this whole thing to be over. His mind is also still consumed by thoughts of Steve and his stupid fucking lips and nice hair with perfect cheekbones and-

“Stop it, Tony,” He tells himself out loud. “Don’t think about Steve.”

“Yeah, or maybe you should.”

He turns with a look of shock on his face and finds Pepper, leaning against the door with her arms crossed and a phone in her hands. “What?”

“Or at least, that’s what Peggy thinks.”

“Peggy, as in Steve’s sister.” 

“Yes, now can you take the phone before she starts yelling at me again? British accents can be very scary.”

“Um, sure.” 

He grabs the phone from her outstretched hand, and she gives him a smile before sweeping out the door. He really isn’t sure what to say now, he’s never even spoken to Peggy before. 

“Hello, Tony?” A soft voice comes through the speaker.

“Hi,” He says, twisting his fingers through his blankets and trying not to sound like a weirdo. She has to be calling about Steve. Right? That makes the most sense. 

“Look, I’m not the spoonful of sugar type of girl so I’m just going to say, I know something happened with you and Steve at your party.”

“Wh- what? I have no idea what you’re talking ab-”

“Yes, you do. I don’t know what happened, or why, but I do know that my brother is miserable. He’s always miserable, but it has been a bit better these past few months, and now it’s bad again.”

He deflates a little. As confusing as his feelings towards Steve are at the moment, he doesn’t want him to be miserable. “That’s sucky for Steve, but what am I supposed to do? He hasn’t spoken to me, and I’m not exactly feeling all sunshine and flowers towards him either.” 

“I don’t care.”

He’s not expecting that. 

“Right, so I’m just going to-”

“No, stop- don’t- God, men are so infuriating,” She sighs. “Look, don’t hang up. I just mean that I don’t care what happened in the past week, or however you’re feeling, not that your feelings aren’t valid! They are and I care, but right now, I need you to fix your shit with Steve. That’s all.” 

“How am I supposed to do that if he won’t even speak to me?”

“There’s an event coming up, a state dinner or something. I’m forcing my brother to go, and then you are going to do whatever you have to to ensure that you two aren’t miserable anymore. If you don’t, and if you leave things messy again, I’m locking the two of you in a room until things are fixed. Got it?”

“Yes,” He says quickly. Peggy is scary. 

“Good, now could you give the phone back to Pepper? I’ve been meaning to catch up with her.”

After handing the phone to Pepper, Tony goes back to his room and tries to figure out exactly how he’s supposed to fix things with Steve. This should be fun.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me<3  
> tumblr: murphyswidow  
> instagram: murphyswidow


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